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NSA's 'Follow the Money' Spies on Credit-Card Transactions: Report

Through a program called "Follow the Money," the United States National Security Agency spies on international transactions, including credit-card payments and bank activity, according to a new report.

This is the latest in a series of revelations on NSA surveillance from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The documents, obtained by German newspaper Der Spiegel, reportedly show that Follow the Money enabled the NSA to acquire more than 180 million financial records — mostly credit-card transactions — as of 2011.

The transactions are reportedly stored in an NSA database called "Tracfin." Der Spiegel only named two companies as surveillance targets: Visa and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a Belgian network used globally by financial institutions to send and receive information about transactions.

Other documents Der Spiegel reportedly obtained show the NSA targeted transactions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to "collect, parse and ingest transactional data for priority credit card associations, focusing on priority geographic regions."

A Visa spokesperson "ruled out the possibility that data could be taken from company-run networks," according to the newspaper. Visa did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.

If you feel that the NSA is overstepping its bounds by reportedly snooping on financial transactions worldwide, at least one person in the intelligence community may agree. The Der Spiegel report also cites a document from the Government Communications Headquarters — the NSA's British counterpart — which calls it an invasion of privacy to collect "rich personal information," that mostly, "is not about our targets."

What do you think of these latest NSA revelations? Tell us in the comments, below.

UPDATE: Sept. 15, 3:50 p.m. ET

Visa security and privacy representative Rosetta Jones told Mashable in an email that the company has nothing further to add at this time.

UPDATE: Sept. 15, 11:00 p.m. ET

Jones sent another email with the following updated statement:

“With respect to the claims in the Der Spiegel article, we are not aware of any unauthorized access into our network. Visa takes data security seriously and, in response to any attempted intrusion, we would pursue all available remedies to the fullest extent of the law. Further, it’s Visa’s policy to only provide transaction information in response to a subpoena or other valid legal process.”

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